Leading on Purpose: Sage Advice and Practical Tools for Becoming the Complete Leader

by Timothy I. Thomas, Charles "Rip" Tilden

In Leading on Purpose, veteran leadership consultants Tim Thomas and Rip Tilden draw on their experiences with thousands of leaders to effectively make their great leaders are made, not born.The authors lay out their case in a conversational tone, weaving in lessons from conversations between fictional CEO ''Frank'' and his insightful, sharp-tongued grandmother. The result is an engaging, clear, and eminently helpful guide to the eight critical skill sets you need to become a purposeful and effective Understanding Leadership Style 2. Strategy3. Communication 4. Motivation5. Feedback 6. Conflict Resolution7. Execution8. Change ManagementNo matter where you are in your career CEO, Director, Supervisor, Manager Leading on Purpose truly gives you practical, easy-to-understand tools for use in any work environment.

Genres: Nonfiction

197 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 6, 2014

Reviews

[Glamdring]

Although the book brought no new concept, and the example of Frank and his grandmother were a bit cheesy and too simple, I found its organization very clever and to the point, and its content easy to apply.

[Greg]

It is not easy to be a leader. It requires different sets of skills that not only take time to learn but also require different level of effort to master. Sometimes it also requires for one to unlearn years of unproductive behavioral orientations to be a better leader. This maybe one of the reasons why few leaders out of millions who hold leadership positions take the time to learn to change for the better. Indeed, the chaos brought about by the change can be intimidating.

On Leading on Purpose, authors Timothy Thomas and Charles Tilden presents a clear and helpful guide to the eight critical skills one needs to be a leader with purpose. These skills are critical enough that we see a lot of leadership coaching sessions being done for business executives to strengthen each.

The following are the particular things that I like in this book:
• Written in a very engaging style. The sentences used in the book are very easy to understand. I did not see any technical business jargon that may complicate the explanations given.
• The book has provided an accurate description on how most executives are promoted: due to technical and business acumen with less consideration on their people skills.
• It also provided a compelling case that most of us learn from many management mistakes but we do not know how to do the right things. For example, many of us had an unpleasant experience of not receiving useful feedback from our bosses. Because of that we resolved not to commit the same mistake. However, when it was our turn to lead others, many of us fail to deliver on how to provide appropriate feedback to our direct reports.
• The book has a well-laid out plan in discussing the critical skills per chapter.
• Introduced the fictional characters of Frank Abernathy and his grandmother. Their conversations put the lessons in proper and entertaining perspective. Moreover, their dialogues are interspersed all throughout the chapters providing maximum support to the concepts provided.

This leadership book is a very easy read. I would recommend this to all aspiring and seasoned leaders in the world.

[Leigh Green]

Organized, accurate and clear. Maybe more effective if I wasn’t already so freakin emotionally mature 💅

[Cariadne]

I enjoyed this blended self-help – a combo parable and standard business text on leadership. It was a quick and effortless read. While most of the concepts are so familiar to us (Motivation, Feedback, Change, etc.) to the point of feeling as if the material is recycled, the concepts are still relevant and not stale yet in the business world.

But did I learn anything new? Was there something different than the other leadership books out there? Sadly no. Even the final pages which provides a feedback template/assessment did not have new information. If there were more helpful templates or tools included, perhaps I'd see more value in this book over others.

[Eric]

I received this book through the goodread's first reads program.

A great book on leadership. Very practical and filled with terrific chapters on actions leaders need to take. I loved how these chapters incorporated different leadership approaches, models, and theories. If I were not at a college that uses a text book rental system, and locked into the text I must use, I'd use this book this term for the undergraduate leadership class I teach.

[Audrey]

I won this book on Goodreads... I enjoyed many of the principals of this book, not a lot of mind altering new stuff, but it was presented in a easy to follow format, with good tips and tools. I like the VOMP principal the best. that was something new for me. Will recommend and pass a long. Thank you!

[Jessica McCoy]

Heavier on the sage advice than the practical tools, but it was a good read with common-sense takeaways about empathy, communication, listening and not making assumptions.

It all seems deceptively simple, but when you're focusing on technical and strategic actions in your business, some people forget about the basics in human relations.

[Margie]

Helpful

I found this a helpful book on the topic of leadership. While the talks with Grandma are a bit corny, overall, the information is concise and well presented.